The Wither's Children
by Ratohnhaketon435
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Sam Blackshadow receives strange dreams telling him that a group of wither skeletons are trying to summon a Wither. He's always wanted to go on a great adventure, and now he finally can. He mostly wants this to live up to the name of Simon Blackshadow, the first Wither slayer. Of course, he is aware that he is more than likely to just straight-up die.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The wind rushed past me as I rode away from the sandstone dungeon on my white horse. I guessed it was almost dawn, so I wanted to hurry back home before anyone noticed. I could see the silhouette of many hostile mobs that were coming towards me from every direction. As I rode by a zombie, I chopped it in the face with my axe and quickly rode away.

It now seemed like a terrible idea to go temple looting at night, but I couldn't sneak past the other villagers during the day. They would never allow me to do this. They were all concerned about safety, but what in the world was fun about that? I enjoyed action and adventure, and I searched for some every chance I got.

Arrows woke me from my thoughts as they launched past my head. Skeletons were the most annoying because of their bows and arrows, but they were still terrible shots. Even so, a flimsy arrow landed in my horse Fury's right back leg. He whinnied in pain and knocked me off his back. I got up to my knees next to him.

"It's okay, boy," I said. "I'll rip that skeleton's bones apart one by one."

I put all my trust into my two iron axes, Blood Bringer and Skull Splitter, as I prepared for the horde of enemies. There were luckily no creepers anywhere in sight.

A zombie came closer than it should have, and I threw blood bringer. It lodged itself dead center in the zombies chest. I went over to the dead body and removed my axe from it. Skeletons shot at me, and I ungracefully blocked all the arrows that I could. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough. One landed in my left shoulder, and I fell to the ground as a spider crawled near me. I hacked at it with my good arm.

The mobs started to pile on top of me and rip at my flesh. I resisted the urge to scream. I kicked and chopped at them, though my struggles were pointless with all of them on me. Suddenly, the zombies and skeletons suddenly burst into flames. I felt small burns from the flaming monsters but just waited until they were dead. Thank Notch the sun had risen. The spiders took that as a warning to leave while their undead allies burnt to a crisp. The disgusting smell of burning flesh and bones filled the air.

"Well," I thought out loud, "that could've been worse."

:::::

I walked over to Fury and kneeled down next to his injured leg.

"I know it will hurt," I said while reaching for the arrow in his leg, "but I have to pull this out or it'll never heal."

I had already pulled out the arrow in my shoulder, and I knew the pain that Fury was about to feel. I yanked out the arrow, and he made a sound that would cause sadness to anyone. I took out a piece of steak for myself and some wheat for Fury. I quickly ate all of the steak and fed the wheat to fury.

After waiting for our wounds to heal up, I hopped onto his back. He instantly knew what to do, and took off.

It took about an hour to make it back home. We passed through the desert and entered a planes biome. We followed the river until we could see the buildings against the sun in the distance. When Fury saw it, he galloped faster than before, because he knew he would get a break. When we finally got home to Viculo, my friend Ian ran over to me with a concerned look on his face. His normally light blue eyes seemed darker with frustration, as did his bright blonde hair. He also seemed a lot taller than me once he was here. This might be because he was taller anyway.

"Sam, where the hell have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you. Wait, did you leave to do something stupid and dangerous again?" he asked after noticing my cuts and burns.

"If by stupid, you mean completely rewarding, then yes. I got four diamonds and eleven gold ingots from a desert temple." I replied.

"You know you could've been killed, right. I've also heard temple loot is cursed."

"Curses don't exist, other than hell, damn, sh-"

"Anyway," he cut me off, "remember what I said when a creeper blows you up in your sleep."

"Ian, you know mobs can't agro me through a wall." I said jokingly, even though it's true.

"Okay, well now that you're here, my dad could use some help making weapons and armor for the guards. That mob attack last night destroyed tons of stuff. But you wouldn't know that because you left."

"There was a mob attack? Is everyone okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied, "no one got hurt except those evil creatures."

That was good. Mob attacks were rare, but they were usually devastating.

I spent the rest of the day helping Ian and his dad, the village blacksmith, making tools so we would be ready for the next attack. I gave them the diamonds so they could make two swords, but I kept the gold for myself so I could trade with other villagers. By the time we were done, the sun was setting. I said goodbye and headed back to my house.

I could easily tell where my house was because it stood out from everything else. I didn't come from this village, so my building style was different. The building was made from stone bricks, unlike the other cobble and wood houses. It was ten meters in length, ten in width, and five in height. Inside, across the door, was a crafting table and four furnace along the back wall. I had some chairs so I could sit down while crafting or waiting. In the opposite wall was a half full cauldron for fresh water. There were some walls that separated a three by three area for my bedroom and chests.

I entered the house and instantly walked to the bed. I jumped in and almost fell asleep immediately. Looting and forging were hard jobs that took lots of energy from me.

Finally, some rest.

:::::

My slumber was filled with strange dreams. First, swarms of tall black skeletons were infecting people with a strange poison that left them lying on the ground. This poison was transferred by one strike of their coal-black swords. Then there was a similar creature. This one was larger and had three heads. It had no limbs and flew around blowing stuff up. Everything around it was obliterated. Buildings collapsed, people died, streets were filled with fire. Suddenly, all of it blacked out. That was strange, a dream of mine had never just blacked out. Then, I saw a green sword tumbling out of the sky. The blade landed into some dark brown dirt that seemed to have the faces of tortured people in it. Why was there a green sword? Those didn't exist, except in the capital city. This must've been the Emerald Blade of Gloria Centrum. The most powerful weapon on this side of Minecraftia.

:::::

I jolted up from bed. I was sweatier than I was yesterday after forging.

Why did I dream about a Wither? And how did I know what it was? I've never seen that thing before in my life.

This dream was too vivid to not mean something. I just had to figure what the hell it was.


	2. Darkness Enters Daylight

**Darkness Enters Daylight**

After waking up from the stressful nightmare, I walked over to the cauldron in my main room. I splashed the icy cold water onto my face. It seemed to do absolutely nothing to calm me down.

I stared down at my reflection in the water. I saw my black hair and eyes like I did every time I looked in water. Except this time, it seemed different. I saw my father in my own features. The same black hair, the same eyes with black irises. I wonder why I saw my father. Until now, I could barely remember what he looked like. I started to feel a bit of grief, considering he had died in a mob attack.

This wasn't helping.

I decided I would go see what Ian was up to, since I didn't really have any plans. I walked through the door and wandered around the village. I never really took in the scenery before. The village was quite a nice place, but I was always too busy to notice. Some of the houses were really well built. Wood and cobble worked well together. Sometimes, the most basic building materials could create beautiful things.

I let my mind wander off like this for a while until I ran into Ian.

"Dude, you look terrible," he said. "Did working with my dad really mess you up that much?"

"Nah, I had a crazy dream," I replied while we aimlessly walked around. "There were skeletons, but they were black, and a larger one with three heads and no arms or legs. I get this feeling it's a Wither. My great great grandfather killed the first one, but I've never seen it before. I just know what it is without recognizing it. Strange, but the weirdest part was when the Emerald Blade fell from the sky."

"The Emerald Blade? The one at the capital."

"I guess so, unless there's more than one."

"Maybe it means something. The Wither could be connected to your past, and the sword might mean something about the capital. What if there's a Wither at the capital?"

"Why would there be one there?"

"I don't know, but I don't want to waste my time thinking about it. Let's head over to the butcher and see what we can trade for breakfast."

I followed Ian to the building where the butcher sold food. Maybe some breakfast would take my mind off things. I hoped so, because I really didn't need to be more stressed out than I already was.

:::::

"I'll give you four pieces of steak for an emerald," offered the butcher.

"No way, that's a terrible deal!" I exclaimed. "We can go kill and cook some cows on our own."

I walked off from the store and dragged Ian with me before he could try to negotiate with the butcher. I didn't like being in there anyway. There were dead cows and pigs in that building. Sure, I kill mobs, but they were the hostile ones that didn't get put next to a window for everyone to see.

"Where would we get cows?" Ian asked angrily. "He owns all of them."

"It can't be that hard to find some wild ones," I responded.

"Well why-" Ian was cut off by an arrow flying past his head and lodging itself into the wooden wall of a nearby house.

"What the hell?" I shouted. I turned to my left and saw a skeleton standing on the gravel path pulling another arrow from its quiver. "What is that thing doing out in broad daylight?"

"I don't know, but we need some weapons to kill it," replied Ian.

I ran off to my house and shoved the door open so hard that it nearly fell off its hinges. I entered my bedroom and opened the chest inside. After grabbed my axes, I rushed out the door. Ian was already fighting with a diamond sword and iron chestplate. Next to him was his father - who must've brought the items to him - with the same gear. Everyone seemed to have hurried inside while the town guards fought against the mobs.

I noticed a creeper from the corner of my eye and quickly turned to face it. I lunged at it and decapitated the green beast before it could explode and destroy the front wall of my house. As I ran towards a group of surrounded guards, a spider leapt from a rooftop and onto my back. It sunk its fangs into my right should before I ripped it off and stomped on it. I ignored the bite and hurried to help the others because I knew the effects of it only lasted a few seconds. While the zombies and skeletons were distracted by the group of people, I hacked at them from behind. After I chopped up about ten mobs, I started to get dizzy. My vision started swirling, and the spider bite started to hurt a lot more. I fell to my knees and grabbed my shoulder. What kind of spider bit did this? Slowly, everything around me faded to black.

:::::

It was happening again. Over and over. I kept having the same dream as before. I saw the black skeletons, the Wither, and the green sword. But something was different this time. Instead of falling from the sky, the Emerald Blade was being used by someone. This person was fighting against the Wither. Along with the person were two others, both using normal diamond swords. When I got closer to the battle, I noticed that the person with the Emerald Blade was me. I was fighting a Wither using the most powerful weapon ever. I couldn't identify the other two people. I couldn't even tell if they were male or female. But I could tell the Wither was damaged. We were winning. Before we killed it or vice versa, the dream started over. There was definitely a message coming from this.

:::::

"What the-" I cut off after trying to get out of the bed and wincing from the pain in my right shoulder. "Holy crap, what happened? The mob attack!"

"It's over," said Ian. "Three town guards were killed and five were injured. My father is among the injured."

"Damn, how did I get here?" I asked. I examined the room around me and recognized it as my own.

"I had to carry you after I found you on the ground and checked your pulse. You don't know how relieved I was to know that you were alive," Ian responded.

"Never mind my health, I have to leave."

"Where are you going?"

"Gloria Centrum. I had the same dream as before, but this time I had the Emerald Blade, and I was fighting the Wither along with two other people. You were right, there is or will be a Wither there, and I have to destroy it."

"What if it destroys you? Did you think of that?"

"No, but I can't let it wreck Minecrafia's greatest city and probably the rest of the world without trying to do something."

"Fine, then I'm going with you."

"No, you stay and help your dad recover. I had the dream, and I have the name to live up to, but you can stay where it's safe."

"Safe? Mob attacks are happening in broad daylight! What if the Wither is the cause of this? I'm going with you. Besides, there were two others in the dream. I could be one of them."

"What would your dad say about this? I'm sure he wants his son home where he can help in case of an emergency, rather than have him fighting a freaking Wither."

"If my dad says I can come, then you are letting me come."

"Why do you want this? Do you want to get yourself killed?"

"Honestly, I've always wanted an adventure like you have. I've just never said anything because people don't like that stuff. You were always like this, so they expected it from you. But I'm the son of the blacksmith. They expect me to stay and be the blacksmith when my dad can't. They don't want me running off to fight monsters, they want me to stay and craft things that help fight monsters."

"Okay, let's go ask your dad."

:::::

We headed over to the infirmary where the injured guards were being taken care of. We walked inside and went to room 3 where Ian's dad was resting. We knocked on the door and heard a muffled groan. When we walked in, he seemed surprised to see us. I noticed that he had bandages wrapped around his right arm and left leg.

"Hey son, I thought you were the priest here to pray to Notch that I would be okay. They're so annoying." He said. "Oh, hi Sam."

"Hi." I replied.

"Dad," Ian said. "I need to ask you something. Can I leave for Gloria Centrum with Sam?"

Now his dad was really surprised. "Why do you want to go to Gloria Centrum? Isn't Viculo nice enough for you? I never thought of you as the city type."

"No, Sam had a dream that there's going to be a wither, and he is the one who has to fight it. I want to go with him."

"That sounds like a crazy dream. Are you sure the poison didn't just create a wildly vivid dream?"

"I'm sure." I said. "I had it last night, and there is no way that was natural."

"Well why do you want to go? You've never gone with him to do dangerous things before."

"He's my best friend, and he could get himself killed. I could help him."

"He's always in danger of getting killed. It's just what he does. If you were that concerned about his safety, you would be involved in all of his crazy antics. Why do you really want this?"

"Because I want to feel excitement. This village is great, but it's so boring. I just want some action other than the occasional mob attack."

"I can't talk you out of this, can I?"

"Nope."

"Okay, but promise me you'll come back alive and healthy."

"I promise. I will not die"

"Okay," I cut in. "Let's get started packing."


	3. Afraid of the Dark

**Hello, reader!**

**If you are reading this, then you probably enjoyed the first two chapters of this story. Looks like everything is going well for MY PLAN TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Wait, did I type that out loud? But seriously, thank you all for reading, and I hope you have enjoyed and will continue to do so. If you like this story and want to stay up-to-date, then follow it! And if you REALLY like it, then favorite! That will be an even bigger help for my world domination.  
**

**Now, I would like to thank AngelTheSeventh for beta reading my story. Check her out, because she has some really great stories of her own. Also, thanks to Myriad of Pixels for being the story's first follower. Yes! Two people on my favorite authors list know me! Well, Flu PMed me to thank me for following her, so three? King of the world, here I come!**

**Alright, I seriously hope you like this story. Peace off!  
**

**-Connor (Lord of Death, Despair, and Rainbows)**

**Afraid of the Dark**

"Are you ready to go?" I asked Ian, who was dressed in full iron.

"Yep, I got all the tools I need and said goodbye to my dad," he answered.

"Let me see if I have everything," I said.

I checked my inventory to make sure I had everything I needed. I was wearing full iron armor and had my axes sheathed at my sides. I also had an iron pickaxe, fifteen pieces of steak, a few stacks of wood planks and cobblestone, and enough iron to make a spare set of armor.

"I've got it all. Well, I guess it's time to go. I never thought I would abandon another village," I said as I looked at my compass and directed Fury towards where the red needle was pointing.

"Hey, we're not abandoning Viculo. When we kill the Wither, we'll come back," Ian responded when he started following me on is brown horse, Jason.

"You know as well as I do that the village could be destroyed while we're gone, or we could die against the Wither."

"When did you get so pessimistic?"

"When I met you," I jokingly replied.

"There's the good old Sam Blackshadow. Putting down everyone he knows while still making them laugh."

"Alright, well we have a long journey ahead of us. Viculo is quite a distance from Gloria Centrum."

"Yeah, we'll have to ride pretty far."

"Then let's pick up the pace! Come on, slowpoke!" I yelled as I rode off.

Behind me, I faintly heard Ian say, "You're so immature."

:::::

We raced on for about ten minutes. During that time, we had left Viculo far behind. We exited the plains biome where our village was located and entered some extreme hills. The mountains were high up with oddly shaped overhangs. Some spots were floating over land with nothing holding them up. I never understood things like that, but I never questioned them either. Slowly, the terrain got flatter, and I approached the boundary of a plains biome and forest biome. As I got there, I pulled to a stop with Ian quite a distance behind me. After waiting about thirty seconds, he finally caught up.

"You totally cheated. You had a head start," Ian said.

"I'm sorry, do you need some ice for that sore loser?" I replied.

"Wow, that was low."

"Unlike your time in that race."

"Okay, freaking stop," he said angrily.

"Alright, alright. Let's just take it easy for a while."

"Speaking of which, it's getting dark. Let's set up camp on the edge of that forest. It's not too dense, so we can escape mobs if we need to."

"Good idea. We can get some water from that stream over there," I gestured to my right towards the nearby stream. "Oh, I have cobble so we can make a small shack."

I gave half of the cobble to Ian so we could build a shelter. Fury and Jason sat outside while we built. It didn't take long to finish, but the sun had set by the time we were done. The room inside was five meters by five meters, and the ceiling was three meters high. On the top middle of every wall was a torch. We placed beds against the back wall opposite of the door. Between the beds was a crafting table in the middle and a furnace on either side of the table. We also had personal chests at the foot of our beds. They were both currently empty.

"Nice, this place looks pretty homey already," I said. "Let's get some rest so we can get moving early tomorrow."

"Wait, I'm going to get some water. Staying away from mobs shouldn't be hard. I'll just run over to the stream," Ian said.

"Okay, make it quick."

He opened the door and looked around before sprinting away.

I lied down on my bed on top of my covers, because it was too hot to be under them. After lying there for about a minute, I started getting concerned about Ian. Running to the stream and back should've taken less than a minute.

Suddenly, something started pounding at the door. The wood was cracking, and I saw green, ripped flesh through the four little holes. I took out Blood Bringer and Skull Splitter. Before I could get to the door, it burst into splinters, but the zombie didn't enter. Instead, it moved out of the way for a creeper to get close enough to me so it could create a fetal explosion. Faster than I thought was possible, I sheathed my axes and grabbed a pick from my inventory to break a hole through the back wall. As I ran away from the shack, I turned just in time to see the shack get completely destroyed. What concerned me more was that there were hundreds of zombies, skeletons, spiders, creepers, and even endermen surrounding the crater that used to be our shelter. They noticed I had exited and rushed towards me. I turned to run, but there was a creeper right behind me. I pushed past it, but I didn't get far enough. The explosion hit me right in the back.

I hit the ground and face planted with massive impact from the creeper's explosion.

"Damn it, where the hell are you, Ian?" I whispered to no one in particular.

I picked myself up and started running deeper into the forest in the opposite direction of the horde of mobs. I dodged the trees in the forest and jumped over roots that were in my way.

How had this happened? One minute, I was waiting for Ian to return with water; the next minute, mobs appeared from nowhere.

Suddenly, I woke from my reverie when my face smashed into something stone-cold. I bounced off the surface and fell on my back. Looking up, I saw a tall, black skeleton. I was too afraid to get up, so I slowly crawled backwards. That seemed to do nothing, as the mobs who were chasing me had caught up. For some reason, none of them attacked. The just stood and stared at me.

"Ha, did you really think you could escape?" taunted a deep, raspy voice.

I looked towards where I thought the voice had originated.

"Yes, I speak your language," said the voice. It came from the skeleton. "You sure are persistent. Why do you keep running when your demise is inevitable? Aren't you scared yet?"

"Why would I be scared?" I spat at the creature.

"Because I will end you," it replied. "I don't understand why you aren't shaking. Oh, wait. You are scared, but you want to act tough. Well there's no one here to impress. Only us, the ones you fear. You are afraid. You are afraid of the dark."

I noticed something up in the trees. It was a shiny humanoid that held a blue item. Ian.

Maybe I could buy some time.

"No, I'm not afraid of the dark. I won't die here. I refuse to die at the hands of a pawn."

"A pawn? How dare you insult me! I am a wither skeleton, a general to the Wither himself!"

"Exactly, you work for him, but you're not the leader."

"You piece of- no. Your words will not anger me. You can't talk your way out of this. You will die here and now."

"Who said I was talking my way out? I'm simply distracting you."

"What?" said the wither skeleton in a surprised tone.

At that moment, Ian jumped from the tree with his diamond sword clutched in both hands. He landed behind the skeleton and cleaved him right in the skull.

The other mobs stood still in surprise that their general was killed so easily.

Ian yanked the blade from its skull and ran towards me to grab my arm.

"Let's go! They're not gonna stand still forever!" he yelled. "I brought help."

As I got up, a white blur and a brown one emerged from behind the trees.

The horses paused for only a split second so we could hop on. Then, we rode away, unaware of what direction we were going, only knowing that we were getting away from the horde.


	4. Emily Clearwater

**I don't have much to say here except please review. I appreciate any constructive criticism.**

**-Connor**

**Emily Clearwater**

The girl woke up just as the sun became visible over the horizon. She lay in bed, waiting to become fully conscious. Looking around, she felt confused for a split second before realizing she was in her new home. Her old place was made of stone. This house was made of wooden planks and had a chest, crafting table, and furnaces across from her bed. There were windows on every wall and a door to her right.

She slowly crawled out of her bead and shuffled over to the chest. Taking out a few pieces of raw pork chop, she regretted not cooking them over night. She picked them up and headed to the furnace. Before she could put them in, she heard footsteps and turned her head towards the door. They sounded far away, but she had the most acute hearing anyone could have.

She shoved the pork into the furnace then rushed back to her chest. Quickly but quietly, she rummaged through the mess inside until she pulled out a set of leather armor, a bow with arrows, and an iron short sword. After equipping the armor, she tiptoed to the door. With the bow in her left hand and both the sword and an arrow in her right, she quietly opened the door and looked around the trees that surrounded her.

Again, she heard the footsteps and quickly drew her bow. She couldn't see any mobs, but any sound can give away a position. She released her bowstring and let the arrow fly. Immediately afterwards, she heard the sound of metal on metal.

Suddenly, a male voice whispered, "Crap, skellies."

That wasn't what she had expected. What caught her even more off guard was when two boys charged at her with weapons drawn and knocked her onto her back.

:::::

"Sorry about that," I said while helping the girl off the ground.

"It's alright, I did fire first," she responded.

"Um, can we come in?" Ian asked just as he finished tying the horses to a fence he had made.

"Sure, but who are you and what are you guys doing here?" She inquired.

"I'm Sam Blackshadow, this is Ian Ironblade," I answered. "We're traveling to Gloria Centrum because... something important is going to happen."

Walking inside, the girl took off her armor, so I could get a better look at her now. She seemed to be about our age. She had long, straight, darkish blond hair that flowed down past her shoulders. Her eyes were light brown, which I had noticed a bit earlier. I couldn't stop staring at her, at least until Ian punched me in the shoulder. I guess I was lucky she hadn't noticed.

"I'm Emily Clearwater," She said. "Hey, what's happening at the capital? You look too young to be businessmen or anything like that. Actually, you guys don't even look eighteen yet."

I didn't really want to explain our situation, so I responded with, "What about you? I'm assuming you're about our age, so why are you out here alone?"

She paused for a second, and I noticed sadness flash on her face. She said, "My village was attacked by mobs. I was the only survivor, so I left and built this shelter here."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said. "The same thing happened to me, but I found another village and met Ian."

"So why are you heading to Gloria Centrum? Did your village get attacked again?" She asked.

"We were attacked quite a few times," Ian answered, "but the village wasn't destroyed. Sam's been having strange dreams about a Wither. We think Gloria Centrum might be attacked."

"Attacked by a Wither?" She said in a surprised tone. "How would that be possible? And how would you defeat one if it's there?"

"Well, someone might summon one," I replied. "We don't know why, but I have a feeling it will happen. And we have no idea how we'll kill it."

We all stood thinking silently for a while. Then, Emily said, "Maybe I can help you guys. I'm good with a bow and a sword."

"Are you sure? You could get killed," said Ian.

"Yeah," she responded. "Thanks to mobs, I have no one to come back to. If there's a Wither out there, I want it dead."

"Okay, but before we continue traveling," I said, "Ian and I will need some rest. Is it cool if we stay here for a day?"

"Sure, just set up some beds," said Emily.

Ian put his bed next to the door, and I put mine against the opposite wall. We didn't really have anything to do for the rest of the day, so Ian and I helped Emily pack what she needed for our journey. I made her a set of armor with my extra iron. After packing, we just sat on our beds and talked about what was to come. We all wanted to kill the Wither, but it was apparent that we were all a bit scared.

Nothing really exciting happened that day, and that made me glad. I was tired of fighting crap, and I definitely needed sleep. As the sun went down, we all got in our beds and said goodnight. The last thing that ran through my mind was, _I really hope she becomes a permanent member of our group._


End file.
